Bandai at the International Toy Fair

While Mattel and VTech are doing their best to keep kids imaginative, or at least assimilate them into the gadget-filled world, Bandai's new creation lets kids "live the Tamagotchi life 24/7." Forget "edutainment" and prepare your child for life as a WoW gold farmer, heavy raider or professional ganker. The new Tamagotchi Connection V4 lets your child enjoy his or her virtual pet through every stage of virtual life, including going to school and choosing one of 15 careers -- and hopefully a few solid years in a retirement home telling anyone who will listen how when it was young, pixels were this high. The V4 will be followed by the V4.5 in the middle of the year, and both versions will let you take your pet online for more games to play and items to win, while offline you can communicate with your friends' Tamagotchis via IR.